Queen of Silks by Vanora Bennett

Author:Vanora Bennett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2013-12-08T16:00:00+00:00

We'd had enough: ships not coming in; the courts full of bully boys; the roads full of robbers. So we all came out to fight for the Duke of York. My old father was one of the men blockading the Tower. And when the French Queen brought her army to the gates – they were northerners; people said they howled instead of talking, like the hounds of Hell – my father was one of the Londoners who went out and told them we weren't opening the gates to that woman. No one knew what would happen. It was terrifying; but not like giving in to the war had been before. We weren't just waiting for death any more; we were doing something. It was them who gave up in the end, not us: the North men and the French Queen. They went away. We won – the little people of London. That's how brave we were. And when the Duke of York came with his army at the end of the summer, we let him in. We chose him. That's how we ended up with good King Edward, God rest his soul, and all these years of peace and prosperity we've enjoyed till now.’ She crossed herself. ‘And it's how I know about being afraid unless you act to protect yourself.’

Isabel stole a glance at Anne Pratte. The little old woman's face was as calm as her voice; but her eyes were strangely full of fire. ‘I was never supposed to be a silk-woman, you know,’ Anne Pratte added unexpectedly. ‘My father had me down for a nunnery – the Minories. But then my sister died. Alice, she was called; she got hit by the wildfire they started pelting us with. The Lancastrians. It stuck to her arm, stuck and burned. You couldn't wash it off. We tried, but water only made it burn harder. I'll never forget the way she screamed. All night long. It was after she died, God rest her, that my father went out and started helping the men at the Tower. They got the garrison commander in the end: Lord Scales. Caught him trying to escape down the Thames disguised as a woman. The boatmen recognised him. They left his body at St Mary Overy. My father took us to see. Stab wounds everywhere. Flies. People spitting. My mother spat. I was the only child they had left. So he sent me to be an apprentice at John Large's instead of a bride of Christ. And I married William.’ She smiled, but there was sadness in her face. ‘And I've been happy with him.’

She added: ‘They say war is like the wind. It brings on the storm clouds, but it brings the silver linings too. You feel more alive in the shadow of death. You seize your chances; you don't think twice. And things change so fast that, even if everything you thought you had disappears just like that, other dreams come true. If you're quick on your feet.

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